Just My Luck
by Psyga315
Summary: Qrow recovers from the venomous cut he received from his battle with Tyrian, but he simply wonders whether or not his luck turned around or if he's just so unlucky that it negates the peace of death itself. Meanwhile, while training, Jaune encounters Qrow's sister as she confesses to him the reasoning behind her "survival of the fittest" mentality.
1. Ruby and Qrow

_Grooooaaaan…_

The last thing Qrow remembered was his hand full of purple liquid. After that, he blacked out. As he awoke, he noticed he was _far_ from where he had slept. He looked around to see the makeshift hospital beds inside what was clearly a wooden building. Qrow was accustomed to this type of place throughout his days travelling Mistral, but he never expected to be in the bed of one.

Of course, he had no time to reflect as he was suddenly tackled.

"Uncle Qrow! You're alright!" Ruby said as she held him.

"H-hey there, kiddo…" Qrow petted Ruby on the head. "Nnngh… What happened?" Qrow looked to where his bandaged wound was. To his surprise, it wasn't oozing purple, and instead was just a normal, small red splotch on what was clearly clean bandages.

"Well, we grabbed you and went as fast as we could to a nearby village. Doctors were able to patch you up right away. One of them said that had we've been any later, the venom would have… well…" Qrow never saw Ruby be upset before save for when she first awoke after Beacon's fall, so seeing her simply frown caused him to wince, as though the wound he had returned. Ruby then smiled, as though to lighten the mood.

"Look's like your luck's finally turned around!" She said. Qrow took a moment to reflect on that.

Luck.

Qrow's Semblance was the ability to constantly give bad luck to people. Unfortunately, he couldn't target who would be affected or when he can have it on. It's just always on. Thanks to it, he saw himself as a burden to everyone he's ever made eye contact with. However, it wasn't the problem of never seeing his friends and family without his Semblance muddling them or the fact that he can never turn off his Semblance like his friends.

"Really? Because from what I could see… It's just my bad luck saving me." Qrow said.

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked.

"Let me ask you something. Is it bad luck if I were to die from the poison?" Qrow asked. He braced himself for the shrunken irises that Ruby had as the question entered her thought.

"N-no! Of course not! Like I said, it was really lucky for us that we got you help in time!" Ruby said.

"Really? Because from what I could see, it's bad luck, since that means I'm still around." Qrow said.

"… W-what do you mean?" Ruby asked.

"Think of a bad luck charm. Break it and you break the bad luck. Kill me and… well…" Qrow chuckled a bit.

"Uncle Qrow…" Ruby began to whimper.

"Well, it's just my luck, right? I'm alive so I can just spread misfortune to everyone I care for. I mean, what's the worst thing that could happen if I died, right?" Qrow said.

"You wouldn't be around to help us… We need you, Uncle Qrow." Ruby said.

"Well, from the looks of things, you guys managed to progress pretty far." Qrow said.

"But we progressed that far because you were there for us!" Ruby said.

"I've seen you constantly slaughter Grimm every time you go on a trip to your mother's grave. You're strong enough to not have me around ruining you or your friends' days. Besides, I bet it'd make a couple of certain somebodies happy if I was dead." Qrow said.

"W-who do you…" She bit her lip. "Jaune? Don't think he's upset at you! He's just upset that Pyrrha died and-"

"What he said _was_ justified. We kept people in the dark and selected people to make the sacrifices we're too afraid to commit ourselves." Qrow said.

"You don't mean that…" He could see Ruby's eyes water up. He sighed.

"Sorry… Just… Been thinking a lot during that night." Qrow said.

"Well… I think you are doing the right thing." Ruby said.

"Yeah. I don't doubt myself there. Where I _do_ doubt myself, though, is if I'm just unlucky to be alive." That's when he witnessed Ruby doing something he would never have thought of before.

She slapped him.

"No! Don't think that! Don't ever think that!" Ruby then held him and cried. "I don't care if you constantly bring bad luck! I love you and so does Yang!"

"I know you do, but look what happened to your sister. I'm the last person she spoke to before the invasion began and… well…" Qrow then sighed. "Or how about Pyrrha? I was with her when we told her about the Maidens and the moment she chose, her choice and life were robbed from her. Even my own friends aren't lucky. Ozpin, James, Glynda…" He then looked around. "Can you grab me something to drink?" Qrow asked.

"O-of course." Ruby went to find something, a nice cup of cold water. She went over, but then tripped and splashed the water all over Qrow's face. "S-sorry!" Qrow just chuckled.

"Thanks for proving my point." He said. "It's better if I was away. If I just kept my distance. Like my sister, y'know." Qrow said.

"Qrow… You don't have to. You can stay. You can-"

"And put you in danger? No. I'm not risking that. I lost your mother, I'm not losing you to my bad luck too!" Qrow shouted. A nurse came in, only to stop as she heard Qrow snap. She sighed and walked in, taking the clipboard and writing down the appropriate notes.

"… Were you and mom close?" Ruby said. Qrow shook his head.

"No… We're just as close as you and your friends are. Nothing more, nothing less." He said. Ruby just glared at him though.

"Qrow… I don't like secrets. You can tell me anything." Ruby said. Qrow took a moment before he began to talk.

"Alright… But only because you asked." He took one more moment to properly word it. "I have a daughter." Ruby's eyes lighted up.

"You what!? I have a cousin?" Ruby smiled.

"Yeah… You'd like her. She's sweet, innocent, but not naïve. She doesn't know when to give up, even when Grimm are staring her in the face. She's a very nice girl. I don't tend to visit her a lot because of… well, my Semblance, but I tend to pop by whenever I could. Make her a part of my life, even if my luck could rub off on her at any moment." Qrow said.

"… Well, Qrow, I want to be part of her life too. I want to meet her at some point, okay?" She then blinked. "Oh, right, Ren and Nora should be back from shopping. I should go greet them." She then waved goodbye and ran off. Qrow simply smirked.

"Well, you've already met her…" He chuckled and went to rest up for the journey ahead.


	2. Jaune and Raven

" _And again._ "

"RAAAAAAH!"

He slashed the air once more with such a force that it knocked the wind right out of him. Jaune panted as the video Pyrrha made instructed him to rest. It was the time for him to reflect on what could have been as Pyrrha told him about how he's growing stronger. He'd have enjoyed this moment…

Had the flapping of wings not interrupted him.

Jaune readied himself as he saw the black bird perch onto the branch.

"Go away." He growled. The bird didn't listen. Jaune just gripped onto his sword. "I said go away!" Jaune shouted as he cut the air with his sword, causing a ripple of wind to fly towards the branch and cut it down. The bird began to flap its wings and get off the branch, transforming into someone who wasn't Qrow.

Jaune could see what was clearly a woman with long black hair wearing a black and red kimono and… A White Fang mask. He just steadied his ground.

"Stay back! I'm not afraid to fight!" Jaune said.

"I'm not here to fight." She sighed and took off the mask. "I'm here to talk." Jaune could see her face and blinked.

"Yang?" Jaune asked as he saw the similarity with her red eyes and the bangs of black hair. She shook her head.

"No." She said.

"Then who are you?" Jaune said.

"Nobody. Just someone who happened to eavesdrop on a chat you had with my brother a while back." She said.

"… Qrow." Jaune said.

"You hate him for what happened to your friend, right?" She said.

"…" He kept silent.

"You don't have to answer. I could tell. He told you of his Semblance, correct?" She said.

"Bad luck, I know." Jaune said.

"Exactly." She then chuckled. "Tell me, is it funny how the person who brings bad luck to people decides to remain with the ones he loves, while the one who brings _good_ luck decides to have nothing to do with them?" She said.

"No. I just find it sad." Jaune said.

"But it's got me thinking. I stay away from the people I love too… But for a different reason." She said.

"… What do you mean?" Jaune asked.

"Well, if crows are a sign of bad luck, then ravens could be considered _good_ luck." She said. "And the problem with lucky charms is that people depend on them too much to rely on themselves." She said.

"Huh?" Jaune asked.

"I don't visit my family because if they realize I'm good luck, then they might just depend entirely on me. Look at your friends. They'd managed to be pretty strong without my presence." She said.

"… But we're not." Jaune said.

"Because you don't have me around to use as an excuse to be lazy. You have no one to save you, so you train to save yourselves. That, in my mind, is true strength." She said.

"So you'd just leave us to die if it means we'll be stronger?" Jaune glared. "You're just as bad as Ozpin." He muttered.

"… Maybe. I sometimes question the actions of my brother and his friends… Sometimes I _despise_ them. But they're determined. And that's what makes them strong. Those who just rely on someone else to save them become weak in the process." She said.

"What are you trying to say?" Jaune asked.

"Just because you now have Qrow tailing you doesn't mean you can rely on him. You need to fight with as much effort as though he _wasn't_ there." She said.

"… I'm already doing that." Jaune said.

"Good. I'm proud of you." She then paused a bit before speaking up. "She's right, you know. The girl in the video? You started off weak, but you're getting pretty strong." She said.

"… How did you know about that?" Jaune asked.

"… Let's just say I have my eye in the sky." She said. She smiled and patted Jaune on the back. "You managed to progress without relying on crutches. And that's the true meaning of being strong." That's when Jaune slapped her hand away.

"Pyrrha is _not_ a crutch." He said.

"… She isn't. She's your friend. Your mentor. And because of her, you managed to get a jumpstart and become strong even when she's gone." She then frowned. "I want to be like that to my daughter. But…" She then chuckled. "She has so much of her dad in her, it's kinda sad. Too hung up on emotions to unlock her true potential. You'd think after the time I saved her, it'd give her motivation to be as strong as me. But you're not like that. You, out of the people I've seen in this journey of yours, are the strongest person I've seen. Not relying on lady luck to get to where you are now." She said.

"… Well, I _would_ need lady luck just once…" He looked away. She then sighed.

"It can't be helped." Just then, the two heard the sound of a loud jet humming. Jaune looked around and saw a large airship with white tassels on its fins. Jaune could identify the snowflake on the tail end of the jet. He then looked to her.

"Why did you talk to me out of all people?" Jaune asked.

"… I felt like confessing my guilt to a complete stranger. She shrugged. Jaune stepped forward.

"Did you just talk to me so that your luck can rub off on me?" Jaune asked. The girl simply chuckled, then lifted one of her fingers.

"Just this once, okay, kid?" She asked. Jaune then glared at her.

"It better be. I'm getting kinda sick of you guys babying us all the time and thinking like we're pawns to you." Jaune then marched off to the hospital where Qrow was. Raven smiled, but then frowned.

How come a complete stranger was able to get her mentality born from her own Semblance, but not her own team?


End file.
